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A01522
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The steele glas A satyre co[m]piled by George Gascoigne Esquire. Togither with The complainte of Phylomene. An elegie deuised by the same author.
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Gascoigne, George, 1542?-1577.
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1576
(1576)
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STC 11645; ESTC S102876
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34,222
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124
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The Steele Glas. A Satyre coÌ„piled by George Gascoigne Esquire Togither with The Complainte of Phylomene An Elegie deuised by the same Author Tam Marti quà m Mercurio Printed for Richard Smith TAM MARTI QVAM MERCVRIO To the right honorable his singular good Lord the Lord Gray of Wilton Knight of the most honorable order of the Garter George Gascoigne Esquire wisheth long life with encrease of honour according to his great worthinesse RIght honorable noble and my singular good Lorde if mine abilitie were any way correspondent too the iust desires of my hart I should yet thinke al the same vnable to deserue the least parte of your goodnesse in that you haue alwayes deygned with chearefull looke to regarde me with affabylitie to heare me with exceeding curtesy to vse me with graue aduice to directe mee with apparant loue to care for me and with assured assistance to protect me All which when I do remeÌ„ber yet it stirreth in me an exceeding zeale to deserue it and that zeale begetteth bashefull dreade too performe it The dread is ended in dolours and yet those dolours receiue the very same affection whiche firste moued in mee the desire to honour and esteme you For whiles I bewayle mine own vnworthynesse and therewithal do set before mine eyes the lost time of my youth mispent I seeme to see a farre of for my comfort the high and triumphant vertue called Magnanimitie accoÌ„panied with industrious diligeÌ„ce The first doth encourage my faynted harte and the seconde doth beginne already to employ my vnderstanding for ahlas my good Lorde were not the cordial of these two pretious Spiceries the corrosyue of care woulde quickely confounde me I haue misgouerned my youth I confesse it what shall I do then shall I yelde to mysery as a iust plague apointed for my portion Magnanimitie saith no and Industrye seemeth to be of the very same opinion I am derided suspected accused and condemned yea more than that I am rygorously reiected when I proffer amendes for my harme Should I therefore dispayre shall I yeelde vnto iellosie or drowne my dayes in idlenesse bycause their beginning was bathed in wantonnesse Surely my Lord the Magnanimitie of a noble minde will not suffer me and the delightfulnesse of dilygence doth vtterly forbydde me Shal I grudge to be reproued for that which I haue done in deede when the sting of Emulation spared not to touche the worthy Scipio with most vntrue surmyses Yea Themistocles when he had deliuered al Greece from the huge host of Xerxes was yet by his vnkinde citizens of Athens expulsed from his owne and constrained to seeke fauour in the sight of his late professed enemie But the Magnanimitie of their mindes was such as neither could aduersytie ouercome them nor yet the iniurious dealing of other men coulde kindle in their brestes any least sparke of desire to seeke any vnhonorable reuenge I haue loytred my lorde I confesse I haue lien streaking me like a lubber when the sunne did shine and now I striue al in vaine to loade the carte when it raineth I regarded not my comelynes in the Maymoone of my youth and yet now I stand prinking me in the glasse when the crowes foote is growen vnder mine eye But what Aristotle spent his youth very ryotously Plato by your leaue in twenty of his youthful yeares was no lesse addicted to delight in amorous verse than hee was after in his age painful to write good precepts of moral Phylosophy VVhat shoulde I speake of Cato who was oâ—de before he learned lattine letters and yet became one of the greatest Oratours of his time These examples are sufficient to proue that by industrie and diligence any perfection may be attained and by true Magnanimitie all aduersitie are easye to be endured And to that ende my verie good lorde I do here presume thus rudely to rehearse them For as I can be content to confesse the lightnesse wherewith I haue bene in times past worthie to be burdened so would I be gladde if nowe when I am otherwise bent my better endeuors might be accepted But alas my lorde I am not onely enforced stil to carie on my shoulders the crosse of my carelesnesse but there withall I am also put to the plonge too prouide â—uen nowe weapons wherewith I maye defende all heauy frownes deepe suspects and dangerous detractions And I finde my selfe so feeble and so vnable to endure that combat as were not the cordialles before rehearsed I should either cast down◠〈◊〉 armoure and hide myselfe like a recreaÌ„t or else of a malicious stubbornesse should busie my braines with some Stratagem for to execute an enuious reuenge vpon mine aduersaries But neither wil Magnanimitie suffer me to become vnhonest nor yet can Industrie see me sinke in idlenesse For I haue learned in sacred scriptures to heape coles vppon the heade of mine enemie by honest dealing and our sauiour himselfe hath encoraged me saying that I shal lacke neither workes nor seruice although it were noone dayes before I came into the Market place These things I say my singular good lorde do renewe in my troubled minde the same affectioÌ„ which first moued me to honor you nothing doubting but 〈◊〉 your fauorable eyes will vouchsafe to beholde me as I am and neuer be so curious as to enquire what I haue bene And in ful hope therof I haue presumed to present your honour with this Satyre written without rime but I truste not without reason And what soeuer it bee I do humbly dedicate it vnto your honorable name beseeching the same too accept it with as gratious regarde as you haue in times past bene accustomed too beholde my trauailes And my good Lorde though the skorneful do mocke me for a time yet in the ende I hope to giue them al a rybbe of roste for their paynes And when the vertuous shall perceiue indeede how I am occupied then shall detraction be no lesse ashamed to haue falsely accused me than light credence shal haue cause to repent his rashe conceypt and Grauitie the iudge shal not be abashed to cancel the sentence vniustly pronounced in my condemnation In meane while I remaine amongst my bookes here at my poore house in VValkamstowe where I praye daylie for speedy aduauncement and continuall prosperitie of your good Lordship VVritten the fiftenth of April 1576. By your honours most bownden and wel assured George Gascoigne N. R. in commendation of the Authour and his workes IN rowsing verse of Mauors bloudie raigne The famous Greke and Maro did excel Graue Senec did surmounte for Tragike vaine Quicke Epigrams Catullus wrote as wel Archilochus did for lambickes passe For commicke verse still Plautus peerelesse was In Elegies and wanton loue writ laies Sance peere were Naso and Tibullus deemde In Satyres sharpe as men of mickle praise Lucilius and Horace were esteemde Thus diuers men with diuers vaines did write But Gascoigne doth in euery vaine indite And what perfourmaunce hee thereof doth